Objective

It’s Halloween season, and you have one weekend (3 rounds/days) to see who can build the most successful haunted house. Success (aka how to win) is measured each day and at the end of the game, and is based on the following:

Each Round (see Round Sequence & Scoring for details)

• Each player’s Theme card
• The current round’s VIP card and each player’s Scene cards that match it

End of Game (see Game End & Final Scoring for details)

• Each player’s completed Scene cards
• The player with the most Special Effect icons (lightning bolt) in their haunted house
• Each player’s remaining Staff tokens in their personal supply
• Each player’s complete set of the 4 Scenic icons (candelabra, skull, audio, lightbulb) in their haunted house

Components

• Canvas mat: Game mat where the victory point tracker, round spaces with VIP cards, Scene card deck, Genre card deck, and Staff meeples are located
• Scene cards: Main cards of the game. They are multi-use in that they are either played as rooms in your haunted house for the top half of the card, or as props/characters added to rooms for the bottom half of the card. They are in a face-down deck on the left side of the Canvas mat

• Genre cards: Double-sided cards that can be added to rooms in your haunted house to help complete them. They are in a face-up deck on the right side of the Canvas mat

• Theme cards: Personal goal cards that are scored each round of the game. Each player is randomly given 2 of these at the start of the game to choose from. The one they choose is placed face up in front of them, and the other one is discarded from the game.

• VIP cards: Public goal cards that are scored each round of the game. 3 of these are randomly chosen for each game, and placed one by one on each of the Day spaces of the Canvas mat

• Reference cards: Player aid cards
• Staff tokens: White meeples that can be spent to either play certain Scene cards into your haunted house, or play Scene cards outside of placement rules. Any player’s remaining Staff tokens at the end of the game are worth victory points. Each player starts the game with 2 of these. The rest are placed in a pile on the Canvas mat.

• VIP tokens: Player-colored meeples used to track which of their Scene cards can score victory points for the VIP card each round. Each player places one of these above their Theme card

• Star tokens: Player-colored tokens used to keep track of their victory points. These start the game on the 0 space of the Canvas mat’s victory point tracker

Round Sequence & Scoring

1. Everyone is dealt 8 Scene cards from the deck. These cards are the players’ private hand of cards to choose from for that round.
2. Everyone chooses 2 Scene cards from their hand and uses them to perform actions. There are 3 possible actions to choose from: Place, Add, or Discard (see Actions for details). Each Scene card can be used for the same action or a different one.
3. Everyone passes the remaining Scene cards in their hand to the person on their left during the 1st and 3rd rounds (Friday and Sunday), and to the person on their right during the 2nd round (Saturday).
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until all of the Scene cards in players' hands have been played or discarded (there are 4 turns per round).
5. Each player scores the following for the round:
   • Gain the victory points shown on your Theme card for every room (aka all Scene cards in a column) in your haunted house that has those Genre icons.
     • Each Genre icon on your Theme card can only be scored once per room in your haunted house.
     • The Genre Special Effect does not count.
   • Gain 2 victory points for each Scene card (aka room) that your VIP token is allowed to move into.
     • Check the VIP card for the current round, and then take your VIP token above your Theme card. Move it along your path of Scene cards (aka room) from left to right IF the Scene card meets the requirement listed on that round’s VIP card, OR if the Scene card has the VIP special effect on it.
     • Whenever the next (or the first) Scene card in the path does not meet the current round’s VIP card requirement, stop moving your VIP token. It is no longer allowed to move forward for that round (aka you cannot skip any Scene cards to continue your VIP token’s movement).
6. Move your VIP token back above your Theme card after you’ve finished scoring for it that round.

Actions

• Place a Scene card face-up to the right of your Theme card and any other previously placed Scene cards. When played this way, you are making a room in your haunted house with the top half of the card.
  • You’ll still use the bottom half of that Scene card for its Genre icons (counts towards completion of that room) and any Special Effect icons there.
  • You can have any number of rooms in your haunted house, as long as you follow these placement rules:
    • The victory point value (number on the top left of the Scene card) on the new Scene card must be the same or higher than the last previously placed Scene card in your haunted house. Optionally, you can spend a Staff token to place a Scene card anywhere within your haunted house (aka the beginning or in between other Scene cards).
    • Any Scene cards with the Staff icon on them require you to spend a Staff meeple from your personal supply to play them.

• Add a Scene card face-up to one of your previously placed Scene cards (aka rooms) by sliding it underneath that room so that only the bottom half of the added Scene card is visible. When played this way, you are adding props/characters to a room in your haunted house.
  • You can add any number of Scene cards to a room, as long as you follow this placement rule:
    • Any Scene cards with the Staff icon on them require you to spend a Staff meeple from your personal supply to play them.

• Discard one Scene card to gain 2 Staff tokens from the supply, OR both Scene cards chosen for that turn to gain a Genre card of your choice (aka search the Genre deck for the one that you want).
  • Genre cards are added to Scene cards (aka rooms) like props/characters. They are used to help complete your rooms.

Special Effects

Special Effects are abilities on the bottom half of the Scene cards that are immediately activated when placed in your haunted house (either as a room or as a prop/character).

There are 4 possible Special Effects in the game.

• [VIP token with arrow and Scene cards] Your VIP token can always move onto this Scene card (this doesn’t mean that it can skip previous cards to get to this card).
• [Genre diamond with X in it] You can ignore one of the Genre requirements to complete that room.
• [Scenic circle with 2x in it] You can count one of the Scenic icons in that room (aka column of Scene cards) a 2nd time.
• [Staff symbol with + in it] You gain one Staff token (only once, when played).

Game End & Final Scoring

The game ends after the 3rd round (Sunday). The following is then scored:

• Each player gains the victory points at the top left of each Scene card (aka room) played in their haunted house that is complete.
  • A room is considered complete if it has all of the Genre icons (listed below the victory points at the top left of the Scene card) showing for it in that column (aka both on the bottom half of that room card and the additional Scene cards added as props/characters beneath it).
  • There is no penalty for having additional Genre icons in a room.

• The player with the most Special Effect icons (lightning bolt) in their haunted house gains 3 victory points.
  • If there is a tie, all tied players score 3 points.
• Each player gains 1 victory point for every remaining Staff token in their personal supply.
• Each player gains 6 victory points for each complete set of the 4 Scenic icons (candelabra, skull, audio, lightbulb) in their haunted house.

After final scoring is done, the player with the most total victory points wins. If there is a tie, the following are used as tiebreakers, in order from first to last:

1. Staff tokens left in the players’ personal supply
2. Most Scene cards (aka rooms) in the players’ haunted house
3. Most played Scene and Genre cards total (aka rooms and props/characters) in the players’ haunted house